


Get It Together

by Unforgotten



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Dark Future/Dark Timeline, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2015-02-05
Packaged: 2018-03-10 15:17:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3295139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforgotten/pseuds/Unforgotten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik's powers aren't quite up to snuff yet after Charles comes back from the dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get It Together

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not writing an epic longfic about how the post-apocalyptic old dudes got from "Charles comes back to life as coma dude and Erik's powers are only sort of functioning" to the dark future we saw in DoFP, but if I were, it would be full of stuff like this. 
> 
> (That said, someone else should totally write it! I would read the hell out of something like that! Come on, fandom!)

Not two years ago, Erik had managed to relocate the Golden Gate Bridge without so much as breaking a sweat. Now, he'd been trying to levitate the same nickel for a good fifteen minutes, and he was shaking with the effort, not to mention dripping so much that he would need an immediate shower when this session was through.

"I think you're doing very well," Charles said, observing Erik's efforts from across the chess table with an air of faint amusement, which Erik was not imagining. He knew what it felt like when Charles was laughing at him, no matter how serene his expression or tone of voice. "There's at least fifty percent less wobble than there was last night."

"You're enjoying this too much," Erik accused, letting the nickel fall a whole two inches to the tabletop. That was what his power was now, the part of him he had spent all his life defining himself by. He could barely manipulate pocket change, let alone anything else.

Instead of saying as much, he reached for a knight and moved it, viciously capturing one of Charles' bishops out of spite, even though he had a niggling feeling that there was a reason he hadn't done so before the business with the nickel.

"I certainly am not," Charles said, in a tone that said he most certainly was. "Would it help if I told you a story?"

"No."

Charles ignored this, going on with his anecdote anyway: "My telepathy manifested when I was nine, you know. It was very frightening. I thought was losing my mind."

He went on in this vein for quite some time, telling this story in a smooth, practiced way. He'd probably told it any number of times, to any number of struggling students. Erik hadn't heard this one yet, but he'd heard enough such stories from Charles over the last few months to recognize it for what it was—and to recognize that the reason Charles was telling it to him was that there were no students in this safe house to whom it would be new.

Nonetheless, it was annoying, and when Charles had finished, Erik said, "And how is any of that relevant to my situation?"

Charles laughed. "You'll see," he said enigmatically, which to Erik sounded like code for 'I have no idea, but I'm pretending I didn't come back to life as an even more senile old man.' Then he moved his rook, capturing Erik's queen, which explained Erik's earlier feeling, if not anything else.

Three moves later, when Charles had put him in checkmate, he leaned forward a bit more and said, "Really, though, Erik, we need you. Do _try_ and get it together, hmm?"

"I _was_ trying," Erik said, not very happy about admitting it—but as Charles set the board up for their next game, he reached out again for the nickel.


End file.
